Automobile door latch



April 28, 1953 E. b. DALL 2,636,754

AUTOMOBILE DOOR LATCH Filed May 26, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 'li'i 127F327 Tar Hays April 28, 1953 E. D. DA LL AUTOMOBILE DOOR LATCH 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 26, 1949 137F227 for fob 4RD a 24. MM a ZAZQ 4 3 M m, m m Mg m a 2. 6. W E z .m 2

f m Mm mm D L Em. W

April 28, 1953 Flled May 26 1949 April 28, 1953 E. D. DALL' 2,635,764

' AUTOMOBILE DOOR LATCH Filed May 26, 1949 S'Sheets-Sheet 4 Ifii anfar Ema/Pp D. D444. Z/% ,L

m 8, 1953 E. D. DALI. 2,636,764

AUTOMOBILE DOOR LATCH Filed May 26, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 //////I/////////////////I////////ll/A w/ 101/, 7/I////////////////I//I///A 7/1,.

- IIIIINIIII-IIIIIMIM II IEYVEHTUP EDA/4x?!) Z. 9411.

Patented Apr. 28, 1 953 I AUTOMOBILE DOOR LATCH Edward D. Dal], Detroit, Mich., assignor to Houdaille-Hershey Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a

corporation of Michigan Application May 26, 1949, Serial No. 95,471

Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in automobile door locksof the type provided with a rotary bolt for engagement with a keeper carried by the door post.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a door lock of this character so constructed that the rotary bolt may hold the door in either fully latched position or in partially latched position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door lock having the foregoing characteristics and further provided with a locking mechanism which will render the latch mechanism incapable of being released from the outside of the door without blocking the apparent normal movement of the outside releasing mechanism.

Another object is to provide mechanism for holding a rotary bolt either in safety or fully {latched position in combination with a lock mechanism which cannot be placed in locking condition while the bolt is in the safety latch position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be mentioned specifically hereinafter or will become apparent from a perusal of the specification wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is described.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the latch mechanism showing it in the position it occupies when the door is open;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the latch mechanism showing it in the position which it occupies when the door is in safety latched position;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of the mechanism showing it in the position which it occupies when the door is fully latched, but not locked;

Figure 4 is a side elevation showing the mechanism in the position which it occupies when the door is fully latched and is locked against release from the-outside;

Figure 5 is an end elevation taken from the left end of Figure 1;

Figure 6 is a side elevation from theoutside of the latch plate showing the rotary bolt in unlatched position, the position which it occupies when the door is open;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic illustration showing the striker arm contacting the keeper when the door is being closed; a

Figure 8 is a similar diagrammatic illustration showing the striker arm of the rotary bolt after it has been rotated into safety latch position;

Figure 9 is another diagrammatic illustration showing the relative positions of the rotary bolt and keeper when the mechanism is in fully latched position;

Figure 10 is a top plan view of a portion of the inside latch release mechanism;

Figure 11 is a sectional view of the line XI-XI of Figure 5;

Figure 12 is a top plan view of the mechanism shown in Figure 1;

Figure 13 is a side elevation of one of the members in the latch release mechanism;

Figure 14 is an end elevation of the part shown in Figure 13, as viewed from the right end of Figure 13;

Figure 15 is a bottom plan view of the part shown in Figure 13;

Figure 16 is an end elevation of the part shown in Figure 13 as viewed from the left end of Figure 13; l p

Figure 17 is a detail key-controlled lock mechanism;

Figure 18 is a front elevation of a keeper for mounting on the door post; and

Figure 19 is a side elevation of the keeper.

Referring further to the drawings:

The latch mechanism includes a latch. casing consisting of the edge plate II for mounting at and parallel to the edge of a door, and a side plate l2 which is bent from the plate H and which is intended to be mounted in the door more or less parallel to the inside wall thereof.

On the outside faceof the edge plate, sometimes also called the rotor plate, as shown in Figure 6, is mounted the rotary bolt. This bolt is pivoted on a fixed pin I3 which terminates in an enlarged head Hi carried on the outside surface of the bolt housing It, the inner end of the pin being supported on the rotor plate H. The rotary bolt includes a striker arm lo and a latching arm ll.

Carried by the latching arm ll of the: rotary bolt is a fixed pin it which extends through a slot I!) in the casing plate H. A latching plate 2d at the inner side of the casing is secured to pins I3 and I8, whereby it must move bodily with the rotation of the rotary bolt as they both pivot onpin l3.

A latching dog, for cooperation with the latch .plate in, is shown in Figures 13 to 16, inclusive,

and, as indicated in Figure 1, is so mounted that its horizontal slot 2| embraces the inner end portion of the rotor axis pin [3, just inside enlarged head 22 on this pin. The latching dog is generally indicated by the numeral 23 and has its nner end fashioned as shown in Figures 13 to 16, inclusive, to provide top and bottom guide flanges 2t and 25 which extend through a vertically extending slot provided therefor in the plate it, the lower flange 25 resting on the bottom of that slot upon an car 26 bent outwardly from the plate iii, the upper flange heing guided against an outwardly bent car 21. Thus, the latching dog is slidably guided by the cars 26 and 2? in plate l2 and also by the cooperation of slot ii and the pin it.

The latching dog is pivotally connected by a rivet 28 to an outside release lever 25 which may be operated upon either a push-button or by some element propelled inwardly into the door by the rotation of an outside handle. Near the upper end of the release lever is a flange til against which such push-button or handle mechanism may thrust.

Unless the latch mechanism has been placed in a locked condition the horizontally extending flange 3! at the lower end of this release lever will be engaged in a notch 32 in a lock control lever 33 pivoted on a post mounted on the latch casing plate ll. Accordingly any inwardly exerted thrust upon the flange (it will cause this release lever to rock inwardly about the pivot formed by its flange 3i with the notch :32, while the pivotal connection the outside release lever and the latching dog 23 will thereby cause the latching dog to slide inwardly, that is, toward the inside surface of the door. As a means for restoring both the latching dog 23 and the outside release lever to their normal positions, a springtd is wound about a post -35 fixed to the latch casing plate ii, the upper end '3? of the spring being engaged with an ear 31E punched out from the release lever while the lower end 39 of this spring is engaged with a laterally extending flange do on the latching dog.

Referring now to the coperation between the latching dog 23 and the latch plate 29, when the door is in open position, with the latch mechanism occupying the positions illustrated in Figures 1 and 7, the cam surface ll will be in contact with one edge of the fiange Zd on thelatching dog, and the pressure of the spring acting on the dog willhold the latch plate 26) against counter-clockwise rotation, thus holding the bolt retracted. The radius as measured from the center of the pin it to points on the cam surface ll gradually increases from the upper end of this cam surface to where it terminates at shoulder ii.

If the door be partly closed to safety latching position, the rotary bolt will be rotated by the keeper to thepositi-on shown in Figure 8 and the shoulder :32 on the latching plate will rotate up to just above the lower flange 25 on the latching dog and become engaged therewith. This action will therefore hold the door in safety latch position, that is, with the latching arm ll against the latching face of the keeper.

Should the door thereafter be fully closed, the shoulder it will ride up above the flange 25 as the rotary bolt moves into the position shown in Figure 9 and the door will thereby be fully latched and held against accidentalppening. This fully latched position is also shown in Figure 3.

To unlatch the door from the outside, when at the fully latched position shown in Figure 3, itis necessary only to thrust inwardly on a pushbutton or outside door handle against the flange 3E1 on the outside release member 25, and since the lower end of this release member is pivotally engaged with the notch 32 in the lock iinwardly from the inside latch plate l2 and by means of apin whose upper and lower ends are anchored in these two ear" an inside release lever, shown in plan View in Figure 10, is thus pivota-lly supported on these cars. This release lever, generally indicated at ll, has an operating finger which engages an ear which is punched out from the side of the latching dog 23. At the opposite end of the inside release lever is another finger which is hooked into asuitahle slot provided in the inside operating link 5;, linl; being slida-L'ly guided by the cooperation of a post 52 and a slot-53 in the link, the rear end of the linl: being connected to an inside handle of wellirnown construction which may be rotatably mounted on the inside surface of the door. The details construction such inside handle do not form a part of this invention and needs no description herein. it is sufficient to note that if the link ill be pulled rearwardly from the edge of the door it will cause the lever l to rotate and the finger d8 thereon will retract the'latcliing dog. inwardly to disengage it from the latching plate 2B, ailowing the door to he unlatohed if Ithe door is then in latched position. The .spnng 5 and washer best shown in 'Figure '12, serve the function of pressing the linkfil against the enlarged head of the pin 52 toprevent rattling of the link.

The keeper with which this door latch vis intended to function includes a plate "fit having a plurality of .holes 5'5 to facilitate its vloeing .secured to the door post. Alug '53 isformedon this plate, the lug having three surfaces which function importantly in the operation of the latch mechanism. The surface 59 is the strike surface against which the striker arin contacts when the door is being closed to cause the .rotation of the rotary bolt toward latching position. The surface lid is the latching surface against which the latching arm of the .rotary bolt rests when the door is in either safety or fully latched position. The top surface 6! is utilized in a dovetail function to prevent vertical movement of the door when in latched position.

-A. dovetail slide housing 52 is secured as by welding or in any other suitable manner to the outer face of the edge plate ll of the :latch casing and affords a support for a dovetail-slide 63 which may be formed of any suitable material but preferably is formed of hard rubber onsome other suitahlenon-nietallic material and .is slidahly mounted upon a pin fi l carried 'by the housing 62. The spring is mounted as sh-o'vvnabout the pin t t and, bearing against both the slide and one end of the housing, serves normally to urge the slide member toward the left, as Figure 11 is viewed.

Accordingly, when the door is being closed, as the striker arm engages the strike surface on the keeperthe slide-member t3 contacts the top surface ti on the keeper and slides along the top-of it. As the door is further closed, the frictional contact of the .yieldable slide member with this keeper surface will cause the slide to yield somewhat and compress thespring. When the door is fully latched, the slide member will therefore tend to hold the latch mechanism in firm contact with the keeper and thus prevent vertical rattling of the door.

Figure 11 also shows a spring 66 coiled about the pivot pin 13, on which the bolt pivots, one end ti? ofthis spring resting against the bolt housing while the other end 68 presses against an inner slotted surface portion of the bolt, tending to restore and maintain the rotary, bolt in its fully unlatched position, when it is free of the keeper. A slot generally indicated at .69 (Figure is provided within the rotary bolt forthe reception of this spring, i l

A locking mechanism for this latch is provided as follows. Referring to Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, it hasbeen explained that a lock control arm 33 is pivotally mounted on the post 34 carried by the lock casing and provides a notch 32 in which the lower end of the release lever 29 is engaged, if the latch be notin locked position. A flange at one end of this lever 33 is apertured to receive pivotally the lower bent end of a push rod Ti whose upper end isintended to extend through th salvage on a door window and terminate in a button '12. If this rod H is being pushed downwardly, as is indicated in Figure 4, the notch 32 on the lock control leverwill be freed from engagement with the outside release lever and should anyone then push the outside push-button or rotate the outside handle, whichever is used, the outside release lever 29 will freely rock about the pivot pin 28 and will therefore not exert any releasing thrust upon the latching dog 23. An overcenter spring 13 having one end anchored at M on the latch casing and its other end anchored at 55 on the lock control lever will tend to maintain the lock control lever in either locked or unlocked position.

If a particular door, such as a front door, is also equipped with a key-operated lock, Iprefer to employ a cylinder lock of ordinary construction in which the cylinder H3 is mounted in the outer door wall and by means of a key the operating shank Ti of this lock may be caused to rotate. A bifurcated plate 78 is fixed upon the square shank l1 and has two fingers i9 and 80 which straddle an operating tongue 8! at one end of the lock control lever 33. Figure 17 shows the tongue Bl in lowered or unlocked position. It is apparent, therefore, that if a key be employed to rotate the plate 78 counterclockwise, as Figure 17 is viewed, the tongue 8| may be raised to the dotted line position shown in Figure 1'7, and the full line position illustrated in Figure 4, which will thereby place the control lever 33 in its locked position.

The position of the plate. 18, as shown in Figure 17, is the position it must be restored to upon withdrawal of this key from the lock. The plate '18 and the push rod may be used interchangeably for locking and unlocking the latch.

When the latch mechanism is in the position shown in Figure 1, it is impossible to rotate the lever 33 into locking position because the flange 40, being directly above the shoulder 82 on the control lever, will block the raising of that end of the control lever. This, therefore, prevents one from inadvertently setting the latch to a locked condition while the door is open, thereafter slamming the door and finding himself locked out by reason of having failed to remove the keys from the ignition switch, for example.

6. Furthermore, as indioatedin Figure 2 when the latch mechanism is in safety latchposition, flange 4i] and shoulder 82 again render it impossible to lock the door either by means of the push rod from the inside and by a key from the outside, as it is undesirable that the door should be locked when merely in safety latch position.

Another advantageous feature of this latch requires comment. If the door be in fully latched and locked position, as shown in Figure 4, the door not only may be opened from the inside but the lock control lever will be restored to its normal unlocked position by the operation of the inside handle, which will first retract the latching dog 23 inwardly, and during this movement the flange 40 on the latching dog will ride along a curved surface leading to theshoulder 82 and push it downwardly, the over-center spring then serving to carry the lock control lever to its, normal unlocked position.

It willnowbe appreciated that not only does this latchmechanism have manydesirable functions which experience has taught should be possessed by a latch mechanism for automobiles, but the mechanism is simple to manufacture and install and should be free from maintenance diificulties. Nevertheless, the mechanism in all of its parts is sturdy and reliable. The rotary bolt is firmly supported in a housing [5 which can be securely mounted on the outside of the latch casing, for example, by means of bent out tabs lilo and IE1) which can be spot-welded to the casing. The latch plate having the two detents #32 and 43 is firmly secured to the rotary bolt and will be sure and certain in its operation. in conjunction with the latching dog. When the mechanism is placed in locked condition no amount of force applied to the outside operative mechanism will cause damage to the lock or will cause it to release.

In the drawings a, preferred embodiment of the. invention has been illustrated, but it should be understood that the invention is susceptible of considerable modification without departure from. the spirit and scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a door latch mechanism, a latch casing plate having a rotary bolt pivotally mounted thereon, dogging means operable to hold said bolt against rotation in one direction including a dog slidably mounted on said latch casing plate, a rockable locking lever pivotally mounted on said latch casing plate in spaced relation with respect to said dog, an outside operator pivotally connected to said dog intermediate its ends and having a free end portion extending from its piv-- otal axis, means on said locking lever engageable with said free end portion of said outside operator, and means moving said locking lever into position to engage said free end portion of said outside operator, to form a fulcrum for said outside operator to move said dog to a release position upon operation of said operator, and for moving said locking lever out of engagement with said outside operator to free the same and render said outside operator ineifective to release said dog.

2. In a door latch mechanism, a latch casing and a rotary bolt pivotally mounted thereon on the outside surface thereof, dogging means operable to hold said bolt against rotation in one direction including a latching dog slidably supported on the inside of said casing, a shiftable locking lever pivotally mounted on the inside of said casing tinrspa'cedrel'ation with respect to said dog, an outside latch operator pivotally-connected intermediate iits ends to :said latching dog and having one end portion overlying said locking lever and extending transversely thereof along an edge of .said s-l'ocking lever and adapted to have interen'gagement therewith, and an operator for said locking lever having engagement therewith and operable to move said locking lever into in terengagement with said outside latch operator, and serve asia fulcrum therefor, and render said outside latch operator effective to release said latching dog, and-also operable to .pivotally move said locking lever out of engagement with said transversely extending end portion of said operator, and render said operator ine'fiective to operatezsaid latchin dog to release thellatch.

In a latch mechanism, alatch .casing'plate for mounting 'parailel to the free edge of a door,

a rotary bolt pivotally mounted on the outer sur- 5 face of said latch casing plate, dogging means operahle to hold said bolt against rotation in one direction including a dog slidably supported on said .latch casing plate, alnanuallyshiftable looking lever pivotally mounted on said latch casing plate iii-spaced relation With respectto said dog, a rockable outside latch operator pivotally mounted-on said --dog and having one end portion thereof overlying said locking member and terminating into an engaging end portion extendi'ng inwardlyal'ong "said locking lever, said looking lever. having "a recessed portion adapted to interen'gage 'saidengagin'gend portion, means operable to :move said locking lever in position to engages'aid re'cess with said engaging end portion of said outside operator and form a fulcrum therefor, to release the latch upon operation of said operator, and operable to move said locking lever in another position free from the engaging end portion of said outside operator to render said outside operator ineffective to release the latch.

4. In a "door latch mechanism, a latch casing plate for mounting parallel to the free edge of a door, a rotary bolt pivotally mounted-on the outer surface of said latch casing plate, a latch plate positioned on the inner: surface of said latch casin'g plate and rigidly connected to said belt for lc'odilyirotation therewith, said latch casing plate having :a plurality of 'detent shoulders, a dog slidably isupp'orted'on said imain plate, a spring yieldahly engaging said dog with said detent shoulders :up'on :doorclo'sing movement to restrain unlatchingrotation of said bolt, a'rock'able outside l'atchop'erator pivot'ally mounted on said dog intermediate (its ends and having one end portion extending from said dog, :a manually shiftable 8. locking lever amountedzon .sa'id main plate, said end portion of said :outsi-de operator overlying said shiftable locking :leverandihaving an engaging end extending inwardlyralong'an edge of said locking lever, said locking lever having means thereon for cooperation with said engaging end of said outside operator, means shifting saidlocking lever into position to engage said means with said engaging end, .to form 'a fulcrum for said outside operator and .rendersaid 'outsideoperator effective to release said dogfrom said detent shoulders, and shifting said means on said locking lever out of engagement with said engaging end of said outside operator, to release'said'o'utside operator to freely move with respectlto said locking lever and rendersaid outside operator :ineffective to release the latch.

25. In a door latch mechanism, a latch teasing plate for mounting parallel to the :free edge of a door, arotarybolt pivotally mountednonthe 'outer surface of said latch casing plate, a latch plate positioned on the inner :suriaceofsaid. latch casing plate and rigidlyconnected to said .bolt for bodily rotation therewith, said latch plate having a plurality of detent shoulders, :a dogslidably supported on said latch :Jcasin'g .plate, a spring :said dog into position to progressively .en-

vgage said :detent shoulders upon door closing movement, a manually :shiftable locking lever pivotally mounted on said latch casing plate in spaced relation with respect to said dog, a rockable outside latch operator pivotalymount'ed :on said dogand having an end portion "overlying said locking lever .an engaging end extending ;in-

'Wardly along said lockingleven'said locking lever having a recess therein for cooperation withsaid engaging end, 1neansoperaole to -move said locking lever into position to engage said rece'ssiwith said engaging end and form a fulcrum forsaid outside operaton t'o release-saidlatch bolt, andto move said locking lever into position to disengage said recess from said engagingen'd of s'ai'd out side operator, to render said operator "ineffective to releasesaidlatch bolt. 

